


These Echoes

by Dragestil



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 05:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12698598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragestil/pseuds/Dragestil
Summary: Magnus can't help but dream of the things he's lost.





	These Echoes

**Author's Note:**

> If you would like to see more of my work, please visit my [Tumblr](http://dragestil.tumblr.com)

It had been so long since the last reoccurrence of the dream he had almost forgotten what they were like. Of course, he wasn’t sure if the reprieve was due to healing wounds or simply the general lack of sleep of late. He hadn’t wanted to question it either way. What little sleep he could get he needed to be restful. But all luck runs out eventually, and the events that took place within the time-locked town of Refuge stirred up memories of the past.

It was their first night of rest after their final confrontation - if it could be called that when no blood was shed - with June, possessed by the Temporal Chalice. They had yet to actually discuss what they were each offered, but there was a certain heaviness that even Taako’s usual jokes and antics couldn’t lift. Magnus in particular was in an almost trancelike state, and mumbled something about needing an early night before turning in well before his travelling companions. He laid down in his tent and stretched out, willing himself to fall asleep as quickly as possible. In that, he was lucky. Beyond that, however, his luck dried up almost immediately. 

Magnus found himself pulled back to the Hammer and Tongs, back to Raven’s Roost. He was back before when it all fell apart, between the ousting of Kalen and his own fateful trip to Neverwinter. He glanced down at himself and at once knew just when he was. He was wearing well-tailored clothes, far nicer than anything he wore regularly. He swallowed anxiously in anticipation of what he knew was coming. Steven - his mentor and second father - was calling to him now. He straightened up and adjusted his collar. He knew this was all too good to be true, but he found himself unable or unwilling to fight the flow of events.

“Looking good, son,” Steven said as Magnus appeared. “Just wait ‘til you see her, though. Almost cried seein’ her myself.”

Magnus only nodded, feeling quite ready to cry just from the idea of it all. He fiddled with the small, handcarved box in his pocket. He already knew how everything would play out. He was bound to his younger self’s footsteps though. He followed after Steven, who led the way to the public gardens. Since Kalen’s defeat, everything seemed to bloom all the more beautifully. And Julia, well she was the most beautiful bloom Magnus had ever set his eyes upon.

From their first meeting, Magnus had known Julia was something different. She had her father’s determination and pride in her work. She knew her way around the forge and the carpentry bench, mixing metal- and woodwork almost seamlessly. She was funny as well as clever. She never pretended to be anything that she wasn’t. Her very presence could warm Magnus from the inside out. He never feared loneliness or despair when she was around. It hadn’t taken long at all to know that he wanted to spend forever with her.

And now, now Julia was before him, standing in front of the rose bushes with flowers in her hair. She was wearing a pale blue dress with a white satin ribbon cinching in around her waist. Magnus had to work to hold back the tears at the sight of her. She was perfect. She was everything he could have wished for. Steven clapped Magnus on the shoulder, and Magnus realised he had frozen in place, staring at Julia.

“C’mon now, son. Can’t leave a lady waitin’, can ya?”

“No sir,” Magnus replied, clearing his throat in an attempt to sound more certain and less emotional.

The memory froze, however, just as Magnus reached Julia in the gardens. The entire world seemed to shift around him until he realised he was in the Hammer and Tongs. He was dressed in his usual work clothes. His greatest attempt at woodworking sat in front of him on his workbench. He had poured so many hours into crafting this single chair that it almost felt a bit crazy. But it was easily the best piece he had ever created, and even Steven repeatedly praised his efforts. When he ran a hand over the smooth, lacquered arm, it brought forth the faint smell of lavender. He shivered faintly. Julia had said it smelled like old people. 

“Are you going to take it to Neverwinter for the showcase?”

“You really think I should?” Magnus said, though he did not want to.

“If you do, you’ll win. And you’d finally get recognised as much for yer craft as that fight ya led against Kalen. I’m not gettin’ younger, y’know, and I’ll need someone I can trust lookin’ after my shop one of these days,” Stephen replied, looking steadily into Magnus’ eyes. “My girl picked herself a fine young man. There’s not anyone else I’d want watchin’ her and this place.”

Magnus wished beyond belief that he could move freely, that he could step out of his younger self’s body and run to Steven. He wanted nothing more than to hug the older man, to tell him that he couldn’t ever repay his kindness and that he was the best father figure anyone could want. He wanted to warn him about Kalen’s revenge and the devastation it would cause, but he couldn’t. Instead, he was stuck rooted to the spot, reaching up to rub one hand over the back of his head almost bashfully.

“You mean it?” he said, but all he wanted to do was cry.

The memory froze again before Steven could respond, and once more the world shifted, though for half the time. When everything settled, Magnus was still at the Hammer and Tongs. This time, he was just outside with his handcrafted chair wrapped and ready for a journey. Steven had already wished him well and again complimented him on his work. But all Magnus could think about was the moment just about to occur. And there she was.

Julia, radiant as ever, waltzed over with a smile. She pressed a kiss to Magnus’ cheek before he pulled her into a hug. Even without his knowledge of the future, his younger self was holding her almost as tight as he could. The prospect of even three weeks apart was daunting for him. He wished now that it had been three weeks. He wished also that the hug would last forever, that the smell of Julia’s hair and the feel of her arms around his neck would never leave him. 

Magnus prayed to whoever was listening and cared to at least allow him to always remember the sound of her laughter when she was teasing him, the light in her eyes when she was caught up in one of her passions. He held onto her tightly and tried to memorise everything about the moment so he could always go back if he needed to. But all too soon she was quite literally fading away, her form dissipating slowly like morning fog as he was left in the between space.

“Here, now, you have the chance to take it all back. Kalen hasn’t returned yet. There is time to find him and stop his attack before it is too late for Raven’s Roost - too late for Julia and for Steven. All you have to do is say yes, to take me and do it differently - do it right.”

Magnus woke sweating, and sat up to try to ground himself in the present. A dream like many others had a new twist, it seemed. The past simply refused to stay neatly stored away in the past. He ran a hand back through his hair and sighed, willing himself to get up and out of the tent. It seemed Merle and Taako had gone to bed while he was sleeping. He found himself quietly relieved that he was alone on one of the logs by their still smouldering campfire. He threw a couple logs from their supply of firewood onto the remaining tinder and embers, feeding them with dry leaves and twigs from the ground by his feet.

“You’re up late,” he heard from behind him.

“Taako, uhm yes, hello, I guess I am,” Magnus said, struggling to put his thoughts in an order that allowed him to effectively communicate with another sentient being.

“Can’t sleep then?” Taako asked.

“No,” Magnus admitted before slowly looking up to catch Taako’s eyes, “can you?”

Taako looked caught off guard for only a minute before he reined himself in and threw a lazy grin back onto his face. He couldn’t get it to stick, though, and after a moment he gave up the attempt, sitting down with a graceless thump on the log next to Magnus.

“I’ve been thinking,” Taako began, trailing off as he worked on deciding just how much he felt like sharing, “about what the cup said.”

“Really? You didn’t seem too torn up back there.” Magnus replied as he studied Taako’s expressions. By the flickering light of the fire, it was hard to read him.

“I’m not all jokes, you know. But we have to keep things light out there. How else would we get out of trouble?”

“Don’t the jokes cause half the trouble anyway?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Taako insisted, pulling off his hat and running his hands along the edge of the brim. “The point is I’ve been thinking. Do you think we made the right choice?”

“Not taking the chalice?”

“Yeah.”

“I think so.”

“What about...everything?” Taako said, pausing to figure out what word to use before gesturing generally to their surroundings. 

“Only one of us could take it, so even if we did, we wouldn’t all get what we wanted probably. And...well think of what we would have missed. I don’t know what she showed you but...I would have been back five years ago. If I changed my timeline there, I would have never met you or Merle. We’d never have started travelling together, or ended up joining the Bureau of Balance. Everything we’ve done...it would all be gone. And for what? My selfishness?” Magnus paused for a moment, obviously caught up in his own emotions. “No,” he said, quieter now. “We’ve still got our memories of good times, even if they get mixed in with the bad ones. And the people we miss? We’ll get to see them again. I know Julia will be waiting.”

“That’s...very touching,” Taako murmured after a few moments of silence between them. He looked caught up in his own memories. “I suppose you are right - but don’t go getting any ideas about that. And don’t tell Merle about all of this.”

“Don’t worry. I’m with you on that,” Magnus assured with a quick nod of his head. “We should try to get back to sleep now. We won’t have too much time to rest, I don’t think.”

“Night then, Magnus.”

“Goodnight, Taako.”


End file.
